England regained the women's Ashes with a game of the series to spare, beating Australia by five wickets at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

The women have been playing a new format of the Ashes, with points accrued across all three formats of the game.

Thanks to Lydia Greenway's exceptional innings of 80 from 64 balls, they now lead the series by four points with one match still to play, which is worth just two.

Australia, who won back the Ashes in 2010/11, will next have a chance to win it back when the two sides meet in early 2014 in the southern hemisphere. It was recently announced that the points format will be retained.

Here's the story of how the game unfolded:

Australia innings

Australia let a good start get away as they settled for 127-7 from their 20 overs.

Winning the toss and batting first, opener Meg Lanning made a great start by hitting 60 from 53 balls, while Alex Blackwell (25) chipped in with a smart cameo.

Elsewhere, there was little support, with only Ellyse Perry (11) managing double figures.

England orchestrated three run outs, as Australia collapsed in the last two overs, while Danni Hazell was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-0-11-2.

England innings

England looked like they were heading for a swift and brutal defeat as Australia left the hosts reeling at 9-3.

However, Lydia Greenway played an outstanding innings from there, scoring 80 in just 64 balls to get England home.

She was composed and inventive, with the reverse sweep and deft glances the hallmark of her 11 boundaries.

Captain Charlotte Edwards supported her with 24 from 28 balls, but this was a virtuoso performance in a tricky situation, and more than deserving of winning an Ashes.